IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/0650.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Some Theoretical Aspects of Base Control

Author

Listed:
  • Charles Freedman

Abstract

This paper focuses on the implications of using the monetary base or bank reserves as an instrument to control a monetary aggregate. Following analysis of a series of theoretical models of increasing complexity, it is concluded that in a system with either institutional or structural lags base control may entail very sharp and possibly undamped oscillations of short-term interest rates. The shorter the time period over which the authorities choose to bring the monetary aggregate back to its target, the more volatile will be the movements of interest rates. Furthermore, there is an asymmetry in the U.S. institutional structure such that rigid implementation of the base control system will under certain circumstances lead to a decline in short-term interest rates to very low levels. The final section of the paper is devoted to the examination of the Canadian institutional structure emphasizing the differences between the U.S. and Canadian systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Freedman, 1981. "Some Theoretical Aspects of Base Control," NBER Working Papers 0650, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0650
    Note: ME
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w0650.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pesando, James E., 1983. "On expectations, term premiums and the volatility of long-term interest rates," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 467-474, September.
    2. William Poole, 1969. "Optimal choice of monetary policy instruments in a simple stochastic macro model," Special Studies Papers 2, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Holbrook, Robert S, 1972. "Optimal Economic Policy and the Problem of Instrument Instability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 57-65, March.
    4. Charles Freedman, 1981. "Monetary Aggregates as Targets: Some Theoretical Aspects," NBER Working Papers 0775, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. J. F. Dingle & G. R. Sparks & M. A. Walker, 1972. "Monetary Policy and the Adjustment of Chartered Bank Assets," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 5(4), pages 494-514, November.
    6. William R. White & Stephen S. Poloz, 1980. "Monetary Policy and Chartered Bank Demand Functions for Excess Cash Reserves," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 13(2), pages 189-205, May.
    7. Johannes, James M. & Rasche, Robert H., 1979. "Predicting the money multiplier," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 301-325, July.
    8. Lombra, Raymond & Struble, Frederick, 1979. "Monetary Aggregate Targets and the Volatility of Interest Rates: A Taxonomic Discussion," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(3), pages 284-300, August.
    9. William Poole, 1970. "Optimal Choice of Monetary Policy Instruments in a Simple Stochastic Macro Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(2), pages 197-216.
    10. Shiller, Robert J, 1979. "The Volatility of Long-Term Interest Rates and Expectations Models of the Term Structure," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1190-1219, December.
    11. Buttler, H. -J. & Gorgerat, J. -F. & Schiltknecht, H. & Schiltknecht, K., 1979. "A multiplier model for controlling the money stock," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 327-341, July.
    12. W. R. White, 1979. "Alternative Monetary Targets and Control Instruments in Canada: Criteria for Choice," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 12(4), pages 590-604, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charles Freedman, 2005. "Reflections on October 6, 1979, and its aftermath," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 87(Mar), pages 317-322.
    2. Benjamin M. Friedman, 1988. "Targets and Instruments of Monetary Policy," NBER Working Papers 2668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Charles Freedman, 1981. "Monetary Aggregates as Targets: Some Theoretical Aspects," NBER Working Papers 0775, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charles Freedman, 1981. "Monetary Aggregates as Targets: Some Theoretical Aspects," NBER Working Papers 0775, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. William N. Butos, 1986. "The Knowledge Problem under Alternative Monetary Regimes," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 5(3), pages 849-876, Winter.
    3. Carl E. Walsh, 1982. "The effects of alternative operating procedures on economic and financial relationships," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 133-180.
    4. Benjamin M. Friedman, 1988. "Targets and Instruments of Monetary Policy," NBER Working Papers 2668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Dawid J. van Lill, 2017. "Changes in the Liquidity Effect Over Time: Evidence from Four Monetary Policy Regimes," Working Papers 704, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    6. Läufer, Nikolaus K. A., 1976. "Unsicherheit, Friedmansche Regel und optimale Wirtschaftspolitik," Discussion Papers, Series I 91, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.
    7. Benjamin M. Friedman, 1982. "Using a credit aggregate target to implement monetary policy in the financial environment of the future," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 223-265.
    8. Belton Jr., Willie J. & Cebula, Richard J., 1998. "Evolution of Federal Reserve Credibility," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 33-43, February.
    9. Jacob A. Frenkel & Morris Goldstein & Paul R. Masson, 2017. "The Rationale for, and Effects of, International Economic Policy Coordination," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: TRADE CURRENCIES AND FINANCE, chapter 7, pages 241-298, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Rich, Georg, 2003. "Swiss monetary policy targeting 1974-1996: the role of internal policy analysis," Working Paper Series 236, European Central Bank.
    11. Victor Argy & Anthony Brennan & Glenn Stevens, 1990. "Monetary Targeting: The International Experience," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 66(1), pages 37-62, March.
    12. T. Christopher Canavan, 1995. "Can Ignorance Make Central Banks Behave?," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 291., Boston College Department of Economics.
    13. Kui-Wai Li, 2013. "The US monetary performance prior to the 2008 crisis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(24), pages 3450-3461, August.
    14. Hwang, Chiun-Lin, 1989. "Optimal monetary policy in an open macroeconomic model with rational expectation," ISU General Staff Papers 1989010108000010197, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    15. Ireland, Peter N., 2003. "Endogenous money or sticky prices?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(8), pages 1623-1648, November.
    16. Fair, Ray C., 1988. "Optimal choice of monetary policy instruments in a macroeconometric model," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 301-315, September.
    17. Rajesh Singh & Chetan Subramanian, 2008. "The optimal choice of monetary policy instruments in a small open economy," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 105-137, February.
    18. Sutherland, Alan, 1995. "Monetary and real shocks and the optimal target zone," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 161-172, January.
    19. Singh, Prakash & Pandey, Manoj K., 2009. "Structural break, stability and demand for money in India," MPRA Paper 15425, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Laurence Ball, 2002. "Policy Rules and External Shocks," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Norman Loayza & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Series (ed.),Monetary Policy: Rules and Transmission Mechanisms, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 3, pages 047-064, Central Bank of Chile.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0650. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.